A mutates tale
by NotreDame
Summary: Just a little oneshot about the mutates. Set between Metamorphosis and The Cage.


All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. Thank you to Samuel B. for the beta-reading.

_A mutates tale_

_Author: NotreDame_

The homeless man called Ted broke a window and entered the disused warehouse. It was dark and there was no one there. He sighed with relief, thinking to himself, _at last. sleep in a place that's not freezing!_

There were empty boxes everywhere. He started searching randomly and found an old blanket. But there was something more interesting, food. Along with the food, there was a bottle of water and a newspaper. Someone had the same idea as him. The man hesitated, and then decided to stay. _Maybe I'll make a new friend._

Hours passed and he fell asleep. He was awoken by voices. A girl was crying. "I can't live any longer like this, Derek. I didn't do anything to deserve that. I…" He opened his eyes and saw four shadows. A male was laughing and saying: "did you see how we scared them away? Oh, that was cool!" The man who was hugging the girl shouted: "Shut up, Fang! That's not funny at all! Now…"

Ted got up and decided to apologize for "breaking in" and introduce himself. He walked to the group and froze. They were monsters, furred, clawed, winged monsters. Worse, the orange male was staring at him and stretched a hand out to him.

Ted got extremely pale. He started shaking all over and tried to turn back. His legs were not obeying him any more. The grey monster seemed to be about to burst into laughter. "You want to play with us, guy?" he asked happily.

The homeless man turned back and ran as fast as possible. Fang laughed madly. "Look at that guy, running away like a little rabbit! Hey, come back, little man, come here!"

"Great!" growled the panther mutate. "Now this man is going to call the cops, we have to run away again. I hope you're proud of yourself."

"Hey, I didn't ask him to come in!" the puma mutate protested, following his fellow mutates on the rooftop. Claw started a pantomime and Talon sighed.

"If only I could understand the tenth of what you're trying to say…"

Maggie frowned. "Are you telling us that you knew that man and that he is too afraid of the police for calling them?"

Claw nodded and 'said' something again. The lioness mutate translated. "He was your friend. Now he is afraid of you. Oh, it is not your fault" she whispered, putting a hand on the tiger mutate's shoulder.

Talon smiled in spite of himself. "Maggie, I'll never understand how you do that. I just see a few gestures and for you, it's a whole sentence!"

"I used to do that at my drama lessons. Someone told a story without speaking and everyone had to guess what it was. I was the best at that game."

This memory reminded Maggie that she had failed at becoming at actress, _my dream will _never _come true. _She felt like crying. Talon hugged her again. "We'll find another place, Maggie."

"I can't carry on like this! Look at yourself, you've lost at least eight pounds, you don't sleep any more! And our friend," she shouted with a hysterical edge while looking at Claw, "he'll never speak again if we don't…"

She started crying again. Claw put a hand on her shoulder empathically. Only Fang didn't seem to notice the girl's distress. The former policeman shook his head.

"Yes. We _are _having a hard time and we did _not _deserve that. But what d'you suggest? Do you know someone who could help us? Your family?"

"No. They're poor and I'm not sure they would accept me, you, know, like this. What about you?"

"I don't think so. Elisa is a bit off the rails ever since the gargoyles. As for my parents… no, and my other sister is away in Arizona anyway. Claw?"

The tiger mutate shook his head. Then he looked away. The Eyrie building was silhouetted against the sky and the full moon. He gestured at it. Talon shook his head.

"No" he said. "Not Xanatos."

"Why?" Maggie asked pleadingly. "I can't believe there's a human on earth who is entirely evil. Why can't you give him the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps he can help us, in one way or another. It would always be better than starving in dirty streets."

"Maggie's right" Fang added. "Let's go to him, we can have some fun."

Talon thought about. Yes, they had been struggling for staying alive and hidden for weeks. He was good at survival but he was more and more afraid that something could happen to the poor, helpless Maggie. And Fang was not exactly being helpful, if they carried on like that, the puma mutate could do something stupid that would lead them into prison, or worse. Asking Xanatos for a temporary help seemed to be the best option. Or at least the lesser of two evils.

"OK, let's go to Xanatos" he finally said.

Nobody objected. For the first time, Talon noticed that Claw and Maggie both seemed to consider him as the leader of the group. This was slightly disturbing. He assumed they reacted this way only because they felt lost and, together, they glided to the Eyrie Building.


End file.
